Within just a few years, Allegan County had earned an unflattering reputation.

Some called it the "meth capital of Michigan" because of the soaring number of clandestine labs that cropped up five years ago, most in rural areas where makeshift cooking operations might go unnoticed.

The reputation still lingers, but the methamphetamine problems are beginning to fade under a full-press attack by police, social workers and legislators.

"I think Allegan County had a black eye for a while," said Allegan City Police Chief Rick Hoyer, a member of a countywide meth task force formed five years ago. "Now, it's time we do get out and say things are getting better.

"It's not time to pound our chests in victory," he said. "We're dealing with an addiction after all, and people will find something else to use."

METH LAB BUSTS DECLINE

The number of methamphetamine labs busted in Allegan County have dropped significantly. The state also is seeing declines.

Michigan counties with the most meth labs discovered from 1997 though this year.• Kalamazoo: 284*
• Allegan: 235
• St. Joseph: 132
• Branch: 79
• Jackson: 66
*Kalamazoo surged to the top when 95 labs were uncovered in 2005

But police and court officials in Allegan County -- an area that became ground zero for state resources to fight meth -- are seeing fewer arrests, fewer labs and success in programs to help former meth users stay off the highly addictive drug.

In 2002, when the task force began, 53 labs were busted in Allegan County, according to state police statistics. That number has dropped to just nine so far this year.

Only in Kalamazoo County have meth labs been more pervasive in Michigan, and numbers are on the decline there as well.

Allegan County District Judge Joe Skocelas credits a 2-year-old law that put the cold medication pseudoephedrine behind the counter and limited sale volume to individuals. Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in meth, with few alternatives for meth makers.

"The laws have made it harder to get that ingredient," Skocelas said.

"People are still coming through the court system. We get them every once in a while," he said. "You maybe can get eight or 10 of your friends together, send them out with a shopping list to buy pseudoephedrine, then make meth. But it's not as easy as before."

Allegan County Sheriff Blaine Koops described the meth problem as being "way down."

But the county is not ready to dismantle its meth-fighting programs, he said. In fact, it will use a $440,000 federal grant awarded in September to expand a meth diversion program that, so far, has helped 12 people kick their meth habit.

Part of the expansion, to start in January, will look at ways to keep people from gravitating into meth use from "gateway" drugs, such as alcohol and marijuana.

Allegan County's trouble with meth dates to 1998, when police uncovered one lab. Authorities believe people coming from rural parts of Arkansas, Kentucky and Missouri introduced the drug to the area around that time.

In subsequent years, police began finding makeshift labs in homes, car trunks, hotel rooms, basements and backyards -- any place suitable to blend the mixture of mostly household chemicals needed to make meth.

The pseudoephedrine restrictions proved just one way to battle the problem. A few years ago, farmers began adding a pink dye to their anhydrous ammonia tanks to discourage people from stealing the ammonia, another meth ingredient. The dye stains anything it touches, and meth-makers stay away.

Judges also began handing down harsh sentences for meth makers.

Lt. Tony Saucedo, commander of a state police meth investigation team, said meth isn't likely to disappear because it's being smuggled into the state from labs in Mexico and Canada where ingredients are not as heavily regulated.

"You still have the users. The product is still out there," he said.

Hoyer, the Allegan city police chief, believes fewer young people are using meth, partly because of a public information campaign showing the disastrous health effects on users. Meth destroys teeth and leaves users with the urge to scratch their skin, often creating sores.

Longtime users sometimes look aged well beyond their years.

"One of the things we wanted to stress with young people was the vanity issue, what it does to your skin and teeth and body," Hoyer said. "I think that was pretty important."